Three members of the Indian Coast Guard were missing after their Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) was forced to make an emergency landing in the Arabian Sea late last night during a rescue operation off the coast of Porbandar, Gujarat. The helicopter had four members on board and one of them has been rescued.

The incident happened when the helicopter was dispatched at 11 pm on September 2, to evacuate an injured crew member from oil tanker Motor Tanker Hari Leela off the Porbandar coast in Gujarat.

In a post on X, the Indian Coast Guard said that the search operation for the remaining three members is underway.

On 02 Sep 2024, @IndiaCoastGuard ALH helicopter was launched at 2300 hrs to evacuate an injured crew member from the Motor Tanker Hari Leela off #Porbandar, #Gujarat. The helicopter had to make an emergency hard landing and ditched into sea. One crew member recovered, search forâ€æ — Indian Coast Guard (@IndiaCoastGuard) September 3, 2024

“Indian Coast Guard has deployed four ships and 2 aircraft for the rescue operation,” the post said.

In a statement, the Indian Coast Guard said, “Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) which saved 67 lives during recent cyclonic weather in Gujarat was launched around 2300 hours yesterday for medical evacuation of a seriously injured crew onboard Indian Flagged Motor Tanker Hari Leela, about 45 kms from Porbandar into the sea, in response to a request received from the Master of the vessel”.

The aircraft wreckage has been located. The incident happened whilst the helicopter was approaching the vessel for the evacuation, the statement by the ICG said.

Source: India Today